Robert Docherty of Maple Ridge, B.C., knew any amount over $10,000 must be declared at the border when taking it out of Canada, and he purposely counted and calculated the exchange rate so the $9,880 U.S. and $335 Canadian he was packing were within that limit.

By the time he was boarding his flight to Costa Rica at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport two days later, however, the value of the U.S. dollar had risen slightly, pushing his tally over the $10,000 mark.

After a currency detector dog uncovered the cash and Canada Border Services Agents checked the Bank of Canada exchange rate that day in 2010, all of it was seized as suspected proceeds of crime.

Mr. Docherty has now lost his bid to get any of the money back.

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He represented himself in two levels of court without success. His complaint to the Federal Court of Canada…